BRITS will soon have Amazon drones dropping deliveries on their doorsteps within an hour of placing an online order.
Almost a decade after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos unveiled plans to use drones for deliveries, the tech giant is finally planning to roll them out to the UK from next year.
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Amazon has been trialling the futuristic delivery service from two locations in the US for the past year and today top brass announced plans to roll it out to the UK.
The tech giant says customers will be able to order items up to 5 pounds (2.26 kilograms) and have them delivered under 60 minutes via drones.
This means that goods like batteries, toothbrushes, condoms, cosmetics and office supplies can be delivered by drone.
The MK30 drone model used by Amazon transports customer packages inside the device while travelling from a depot and then will drop it from a height. The drone is powered by propeller which motor the drone until the designated spot and then commands it to drop.
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This means that fragile items and expensive weighty equipment, like laptops and other electronics cannot be delivered by drones.
Amazon will also be adding its drone delivery service to a third location in the US, and Italy alongside its UK rollout.
Amazon had big ambitions for drone deliveries which seemed like science fiction. But its ambitions for drones in Texas and California have underwhelmed.
In 2013 Mr Bezos said that he thought it would take just four or five years to get drone deliveries running. “It will work and it will happen”, he said.
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Recent reports say it has only made a few hundred deliveries via Prime Air – the service for its drone flights- since launching in the US. Insiders say this is part of a game plan to check the service works before rolling it out internationally.
David Carbon, Vice President of Amazon’s Prime Air, said “We have been delivering packages by drone for almost a year in California and in Texas.
“We have built a safe, reliable delivery service and have partnered very closely with regulators and communities.
“We will continue with that collaboration into the future to ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers and the communities we serve.”
Aviation minister Baroness Vere said in response to the news: “Amazon’s announcement today is a fantastic example of Government and industry coming together to achieve our shared vision for commercial drones to be commonplace in the UK by 2030.
“Not only will this help boost the economy, offering consumers even more choice while helping keep the environment clean with zero emission technology, but it will also build our understanding how to best use the new technology safely and securely.”
Frederic Laugere, Head of Innovation Advisory Services at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: “Exploring the options of how drones can be safely and successfully incorporated into more of the UK’s airspace is key.
“It is vital that projects such as this take place to feed into the overall knowledge and experiences that will soon enable drones to be operating beyond the line of sight of their pilot on a day-to-day basis, while also still allowing safe and equitable use of the air by other users.”
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
